Health in beverage cartons: Natural milk in environment-friendly packaging

Candia fills bio-milk into combiblocStandard with combiTwist from SIG Combibloc.

Candia, the leading brand on the French milk market, has just introduced an innovative concept: A bio-milk with a natural fat content that is not initially modified but which fluctuates between 3.7 and 4.5 percent depending on the season and how the cows are fed.

The fact that the product is conserved exclusively with thermal treatment guarantees that the milk is totally natural with its own original taste, says Candia. In order to underline the natural character of the bio-milk, the company decided to fill it into the aseptic carton combiblocStandard, 1,000 ml, from SIG Combibloc.

Bio-milk on the advance

Florence Pierron, marketing manager and responsible for innovations at Candia: "We decided in favour of the combibloc carton because this packaging complements the product values of the bio-milk perfectly – environment-friendliness and naturalness." Although carton packaging does not play just as important a role in France as in Spain for example, Pierron says it nevertheless offers "undeniable advantages in terms of environment-friendliness and storability, as well as providing a large display surface for our brand and nutritional information. Furthermore, reclosable opening systems have now been perfected to such an extent that the convenience of the carton pack can compete with that of the PET bottle."

In 2003, the market volume of bio-milk in France came to around 72 million litres. With a growth rate of 6 percent between 2002 and 2003, it is one of the few segments showing steady development. The food scandals of past years are also responsible for the boom experienced by bio-products since they made a lasting impression on consumers and clearly sharpened their awareness. Today they tend to pay more attention to bio-products marked with the bio-label which guarantees healthy and pure food.